At first sight there aren’t a lot of changes at the new main stage of the Melkweg; the round bar has been exchanged for a straight one and there’s a new bar close to the stage, which on his turn has moved to the back a few metres. With the extended balcony there’s room for 500 more people. Another thing that was different from all those previous shows at the Melkweg was that the main act started already at nine o’clock, so while I was still digesting that horrible Burger King meal, Stone Sour turned my stomach upside-down with the smashing opening song ‘30/30-150’. Corey Tailor, stripped to the waist and with a shaved head which made him look like some sort of mix of Iggy and Phil Anselmo, sounded excellent right from the start. You could obviously see that he was really enjoying the show, especially by his stunned and speechless appearance between the songs, caused by the enthusiastic participation of the crowd. Not so surprising, because Stone Sour played both old and new songs flawless and they were on full throttle, which is definitely due to drumbeast Roy Mayorga. 

While the band was taking some rest, Corey played some acoustic songs like ‘Bother’ and the seemingly spontaneous cover ‘Sweet Home Alabama’ from Lynyrd Skynyrd. In the beautiful ballad ‘Through Glass’ the band was united again and proved that they also can be a polished, breathtaking diamond. With ‘Get Inside’ the show ended just like it started: with a big bang, and Stone Sour proved tonight that it’s still possible to give an intimate show in the expanded Melkweg.